AFP - Iraqi state television on Sunday broadcast the confessions of three men said to have plotted two massive bombings in Baghdad on October 25 that left more than 150 people dead and hundreds wounded.

The men are members of the Baath party, the outlawed political movement of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, which the government holds responsible for mounting deadly attacks throughout the country, officials said.

Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army's Baghdad division, said the men confessed to a judge that they orchestrated the bombings at the justice ministry and the capital's local government headquarters.

Two of the three men had been officers in Saddam's army and in recordings shown to reporters they said a Saudi national assisted them as they drove three cars from Taji, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Baghdad.

The cars contained explosives that were transferred days later to the truck and minibus that were used in the attacks, according to the broadcast.

The plotters also confessed they had scouted the area of the justice ministry and Baghdad governorate building, taking pictures of the targets in the days leading up to the bombings.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on November 10 announced the arrest of 73 people from the Baath party and Al-Qaeda whom he said were implicated in the attacks, the most deadly to hit Iraq in more than two years.